#24P - I'm Still on Vacation but the Sky is Not! - Mini-Eclipse Info - Spica Occulted in Daylight - And 1 More Story
TGT 9/1/24: Planet Watching Sights; More Detail on the Mini-Eclipse; Moon Eclipses a Star in Daylight; The Same Things on Earth and Sky
Cover Photo - “Twins” Saturn and Altair
In This Issue:
Cover Photo — “Twins” Saturn and Altair
Welcome to Issue 24P!
Sky Planning Calendar —
* Moon-Gazing - Moon Passes In Front of a Bright Star—-in Bright Daylight* Observing—Plan-et -
- Saturn Dominates the Evening, but Jupiter Joins It Before Midnight
- Venus and Mercury Can Be Found With the Moon
* Border Crossings
* For the Future - A 4-Minute Eclipse ComingAstronomy in Everyday Life - Summer Sky and Earthly Counterparts?
Welcome to The Galactic Times Newsletter-Inbox Magazine #24P!
Yours truly is taking a break (as much as I can with a lot of Lafayette history talks — my other current writing genre—see https://www.hermograph.com/lafayette if you are interested) and this issue will be shorter than usual and most of it “pre-written”.
I hope to add an astronomical travel piece when things resume on the 16th of September.
Publisher — Dr. Larry Krumenaker Email: newsletter@thegalactictimes.com
Sky Planning Calendar
Moon-Gazing
Moon passages by a star, planet or deep sky object are a good way to find a planet or other object if you’ve never located it before.
September 1 See in the dawn the Moon 5-degrees North of Mercury.
September 2 New Moon.
September 5 It is Apogee Day, the day the Moon is at its farthest distance from the Earth, and thus smallest in size—a three-day old Micro-Crescent Moon! At the same time Venus will be 1.2-degrees away in the evening twilight.
September 6 The spring star Spica is just days away from its disappearance into the solar glare, and the Moon says its goodbyes from a half-degree away. For readers in NE North America and over to Central Africa across the Atlantic, the Moon actually occults or covers over the star.
Regrettably, this is a daytime occultation in North America but, not to worry, the Moon as a fat crescent is able to be found with the unaided eye, and binoculars or telescopes can look to its left (or below, depending on where you are) near its dark side to find the 1.0-magnitude star and follow it until it blinks out. This will occur around 10:30 AM Chicago time and around 11:30 EDT, give or take a couple of minutes, in the Northeast—Massachusetts down to the DC area and points west. It emerges off the bright limb of the Moon between 57 and 70 minutes later, depending on your geographic coordinates. Tougher to see but give it a try in your scopes.
September 10 Antares, the Scorpion’s red heart star, gets a real close brush by the Moon, 0.1-degree, passing below or South of the star. For those Down Under, the star gets Under(neath) the Moon—occulted.
September 11 First Quarter
Observing---Plan-et
==Jupiter Enters the Evening Sky, Saturn Dominates Until Midnight==
==Mercury and Venus Can Be Found Using the Moon==|
Mercury gets pointed out by the one-day-before-New Moon on the 1st, but it doesn’t need too much help; it reaches its Greatest Western Elongation in the dawn skies on the 4th. A good view for Southern Hemisphereans, so-so for Northerners. Still, it rises into view just as the first glows of morning twilight appear for a few days before and a week after the GWE, and peaking in brightness around the 11th.
Venus finally sets in the evening sky more than an hour after the Sun, close to 90 minutes later (but still in twilight) by mid-month. Still not that easy to find with the ecliptic having a line roughly parallel to the horizon.
Mars rises still after midnight, and falling behind Jupiter every day.
Jupiter finally becomes the second dark-sky evening planet, rising before local midnight Daylight Saving Time on the 2nd, and is highest in the sky at Sunrise, due South.
Saturn reaches opposition, 180-degrees opposite the Sun in the sky, rising as the Sun sets and vice versa, staying visible ALL night and in both twilight periods, on the 7th. THE evening planet between twilight’s end and Jupiter’s rising near midnight.
At opposition Saturn is as bright as it will get this season, magnitude +0.6, slightly brighter than the second brightest star in the Summer Triangle high in the South, Altair, in Aquila the Eagle. [See Cover Photo.] Not shabby but not a beacon, yet being in a part of the sky with not too many bright stars, it stands out. It is not as bright as it can be as its rings are getting closer to being edge-on to us. It is 72 light minutes away (light reaching you left Saturn 72 minutes before) at 8.7 Astronomical Units distances away (that’s 8.7 times the Earth’s average distance of just about 93 million miles).
Border Crossings
Astronomically the Sun is in Leo all this fortnight. Astrologically,it is one sign east, in Virgo (sigh).
For the Future (Augmented)
There is an upcoming partial lunar eclipse on September 17th North American dating. It is not a very exciting one but it makes an interesting challenge! The Moon will only barely enter the central umbral shadow, about 10% of the way into it (3-minutes of arc—barely a size the average human eye can differentiate), something that will barely look darker than the deepest part of the outer penumbral shadow. Partial phase will last a whopping 4 minutes of time. Don’t close your eyes or you might miss it.
The peak, such as it is, will be centered at 10:44PM Eastern Daylight Time, and the eclipse will be visible, weather permitting, from the longitudes of the Mediterranean Sea to California’s.
Interestingly, there are one Solar and one Almost Lunar Eclipses the next month, October. The Moon JUST misses the penumbra on October 2nd, so nothing to see but it is out of the shadow by as much as the September eclipse is in it.
Then there is an annular eclipse, October 17, mostly visible at sea in the Pacific and across Chile and Argentina. Partial phases (slight) will be visible in lower Baja California, Mexico, and northern New Zealand and the East Indies island north of that. A fairly large percentage of partial phase will be visible from the Hawaiian Islands so if you needed an excuse to visit Oahu or Maui, here it is…..
Astronomy in Everyday Life
Summer Sky and Earthly Counterparts?
You can’t escape the sky even if you are on vacation. In fact, that’s an even better time to explore the sky.
The problem is, some of that stuff seems to be different when you get down to Earth…..
Example 1: Here is a photo of the Milky Way, taken by R. Stillman on a monthlong vacation in Maine. The Milky Way supposedly gets its name from Hera’s milk dripping onto the sky. But perhaps that is incorrect. Perhaps it is this Galaxy syrup, with essence of Rum and spices in it (note: it is NOT an alcoholic spirit).
Example 2. If that’s not nutritionally satisfactory, look not near the horizon but up near the Zenith for the constellation Lyra. Now, Lyra is supposed to be a Lyre, a kind of harp. To me it has ALWAYS looked like a handle-less beer stein, with its triangular top open for business. The bright point on the top of the, um, top, is the star Vega, which clearly was named for the nutritional supplement found in a Walmart.
Example 3. Finally, for the first time since before Venus’ solar conjunction back in June, the goddess of love planet was up high enough that yours truly could see it in twilight! And then, in the same Walmart, a man- (or, rather, woman-) -sized display of razors for making oneself a goddess in appearance was spotted.
Yes, astronomy is above, and with, us.
See you in September with a travel story.
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Till next issue,
Dr. Larry Krumenaker